Not until you get it right

Burton strived for perfection. She created countless versions of each scene so she could “get it right.” For example, our collection holds no fewer than fifteen versions of Act I, Scene 1. Although she reworked the illustrations obsessively, Burton kept very few notes and the text did not change much during the eight years she worked on the book. Some of her early drawings are only rough sketches of an entire scene, nearly abstract in their lack of detail, while other early drawings are meticulous renderings of a single animal that look like finished artwork.